Dedicated to showcasing the pursuit and practice of photography and related media

Artist Spotlight: Stephen Chalmers, Unmarked

Friend and colleague Stephen Chalmers’ exhibit Unmarked is on view at the Light Work Gallery in Syracuse, NY with an artists reception scheduled for tonight.

Associate Director of Lightwork, Mary Goodwin says: “In Unmarked, Stephen Chalmers photographs so called dumpsites—places where the bodies of serial killers’ victims were abandoned. These sites remain unmarked by any kind of memorial in a quiet denial of the violence that occurred and the victims who suffered it. Acknowledging these places with his images and naming them after the people who perished there, Chalmers lifts a stigma that unceremoniously draws a line of remembrance between those who died by intentional acts of violence and those who did not.

Chalmers, who is a trained social worker, former emergency medical technician, and professor, treads on sensitive ground as he explores and documents dumpsites in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. By offering an elegant memorial that shifts our gaze away from infamy and back to the humanity of the victims, he exchanges scandal for dignified tribute.

The images in Unmarked create a lasting link between life-and-death events and the land. By inviting us to gaze directly on sites of untimely and tragic death, Chalmers gives us courage to confront our fears about the end of life and its remembrance.” See more work by Chalmers.